Tokyo wins 2020 Summer Olympics

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — With a philosophy that seemed borrowed from Allstate commercials, Tokyo convinced the International Olympic Committee to give it the 2020 Summer Olympics.

"You're in safe hands with Tokyo" was what the Japanese emphasized, actually using the words "safe pair of hands" as a bid theme. They referred to a $4.5 billion reserve fund already in place to cover Olympic cost contingencies and polls showing travelers think Tokyo is the safest city in the world.

So the Japanese capital won the right to host its second Summer Games. It will be Japan's fourth Olympics, more than any other country except the United States with eight and France with five.

Tokyo beat Istanbul 60-36 Saturday in the second round of voting. Madrid was eliminated in a runoff after the first round of a secret ballot vote that ends when one city achieves a majority.

Questions about Spain's battered economy and instability in the Middle East undoubtedly hurt Madrid and Istanbul.

"That does come into play," IOC member Prince Albert of Monaco said after the vote. "I think there was a shift to a safe bet."

It was reflected in both the final margin and in Tokyo also having won the first round with 42 votes to 26 for Istanbul and Madrid. In the runoff, Istanbul beat Madrid 49-45.

Both Tokyo and Madrid had lost to Rio de Janeiro in the bidding for the 2016 Summer Games. Chicago's bid lost in the first round of that election.

Conventional wisdom says the Tokyo victory will hurt U.S. chances for a successful 2024 bid because it leaves an opening for European bids. There have not been consecutive Summer Games on the same continent since 1948-52.

IOC member Dick Pound of Canada did not think the result kills U.S. hopes, especially since the U.S. Olympic Committee has ended a decade of acrimony with the IOC in a dispute over percentages of television and global sponsorship revenues.

"What it does is increase the likelihood there will be another European bid," Pound said. "That said, if we are in kiss-and-make-up time with the U.S. … why not (a successful U.S. bid.)"

The Tokyo bid had to deal with one significant issue, and Japan's prime minister, Shinzo Abe, attacked it head-on.

Abe made a seemingly impossible guarantee there would be no more present or future health-related problems related to radioactive water at the Fukushima nuclear plant 150 miles from Tokyo. Abe made reference to Fukushima in his prepared remarks and unflinchingly answered IOC members' further questions about it.

"Let me assure you, the situation is under control,'' Abe said. "It has never done and will never do any damage to Tokyo.''

Tokyo's plans include adding a new waterfront cluster of venues to those that remain from its 1964 Summer Games. The main Olympic Stadium will be a new structure on the site of the old one.

"The joy was even greater than when I won my own election," Abe said of Tokyo's victory.

With a struggling economy and lingering effects of the deadly 2011 tsunami and earthquake that devastated areas that include the Fukushima reactor, Tokyo emphasized the idea that having the Olympics would give the country — particularly its youth — more hope for the future.

Paralympian Mami Sato, whose home town was hit by the tsunami, delivered that message through her own experiences, saying "I was saved by sport" and recounting the psychological lift provided to children in the ravaged areas by the visits of international and Japanese athletes.

Sato's emotional speech, in occasionally halting English, captured a tonal shift in the entire Japanese presentation, full of passion and force of conviction Tokyo had lacked in its 2016 bid.

Crown Princess Takamado also made a big impression simply by showing up, a departure from the imperial family's past distance from such occasions.

The Princess, actively involved in Japanese sports federations, proved both funny and disarming by saying, "I'm sure many members are surprised to see me here. I'm just as surprised as they are."

Istanbul's emotional pitch for an Olympics that would bridge East and West failed against pragmatic concerns over whether the city would be capable of handling massive preparation challenges like those facing Rio, the first Olympic host from South America.

Istanbul would have been the first host in a predominantly Muslim country. But the vote showed IOC members felt making history again was not worth the risk.

"You have described yourself as a safe pair of hands," IOC President Jacques Rogge said of Tokyo. "As a surgeon, this is something that appeals to me."

Rio has looming problems with construction deadlines and domestic protests over spending on circuses in a country where crime and poverty are rampant.

There has been an avalanche of negative publicity over the stunning $40 billion — and counting — Russia is spending on the 2014 Winter Olympics, where there were no existing venues and barely any roads in the mountains. And that was before the controversy over Russia's anti-gay laws.

"Tokyo was very emotional and very sound technically, and of course they offer all the guarantees in financial terms, political stability and security," Prince Albert said.

"In 10 years, Turkey will be among the top 10 economies in the world," Babacan said. "There will be no budget blowouts, no negative media."

"2020 is not a Games of uncertainty and austerity; it is a games for growth."

Both Istanbul, now a five-time loser, and Madrid had to deal with pointed questions from IOC members about doping scandals in their countries, and neither answered them well.

Tokyo jumped on the likelihood such issues would be raised by noting in its presentation no Japanese athlete ever has failed a doping test at the Olympics and Paralympics.

Spain's prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, insisted the country — with unemployment hovering near 25 percent — was on the road to recovery and said "the region of Madrid has emerged from recession."

The crux of Madrid's appeal was that 80 percent of the sports venues — including the main stadium —already are built or under construction and that the further infrastructure and venue costs will be just $1.9 million.

"Seven years is not a lot of time to prepare," said IOC member Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr. of Spain. "The best solution to mitigate risk is to choose a city that has prepared ahead of time.

"This is not a bid of promises; we have already kept them. This is not a bid of dreams; we have already built them."

Only to have the dreams of Madrid's first Olympics shattered for the third straight time.